I enjoyed this bottle with tenderbranson courtesy of weeare138 -thanks for the chance to taste this beauty, Mike! poured cellar temp into a tulip.

A deep fudge brown color with creamy tan cap, no light passes through. The retention is good and lace sticks well, very small bead. This is an attractive beer to say the least. The smell is multidimensional, lots of creamy malt, caramel, cocoa and spice which adds a mild vanilla bean note with hints of alcohol in the aroma. The feel is light spice, full body with moderately carbonated presence, the spice notes come forward in the middle and the finish is semi-sweet.

The taste of this is broad, lots of complex spice and malt qualities at play here. The taste of the dark malt is slightly cococa enhanced and seems nutty,but that my just be the earthy vanilla presence. The slight spice distracts from the alcohol in the flavor and gives a nice complimentary accent to the caramel malt flavor and roasted notes round out the big stout. The spicing really adds to this beer, it feels like one I would want to enjoy in the winter or the holidays, lots of festive flavors in the mix which work so well with the base stout. The pepper is mild but this adds to the drinkability for me with the nutty earthy and cinnamon quality making for a unique brew and highly drinkable stout.

Thank you to Kevin for cracking this one open at the Bruery 2nd Anniversary party.

A: Quite an ominous pour from the bottle. Viscous and black, creating a sturdy mocha head in the glass.

S: I was worried that the chili peppers would overwhelm the beer, but they provide only a subtle spice to the beer which works nicely with the sweet components. Chocolate and vanilla, along with caramel and roasted malts complete the nose.

T: A much more balanced flavor than the BA version offers. An inviting sweetness up-front of chocolate and vanilla, followed by a touch of bitterness and spice (chili and cinnamon) on the back end.

M: A very thick and chewy feel on the tongue. The carbonation is minimal, as it should be and just helps to enhance the creaminess.

D: The alcohol is nowhere to be found, but this one does pack quite the punch. A fantastic stout and one of the first CCB beers I've been really impressed by.

Dark crude oil color, brown head slowly dissipates to a thin but sticky lacing. Aromas of over-caramelized cinnamon buns, chocolate, mild dark fruit, and a roasty maltiness. Sweet throughout but there is so much going on here it simply is the perfect and complex Imperial Stout base. Cinnamon and chilies really pop, cocoa nibs and a fine layer of chocolate and meld well with the sweetness, vanilla adds some depth, and the alcohol really round this brew out with floral and dark fruit undertones. Clearly a sipper, a fun one at that. Its quite obvious this is one of those bucket list beers. Well worth hunting a bottle of few down.

'Twas indeed a tragic prelude to the brewing, when this bottle flung itself from the table, shattering its world, leaving an expanding sea of dark, roasty blood. We salvaged what we could from the wreckage, and the impression gotten therefrom is below. Full disclosure, home slices.

It pours a straight deathly dark brown topped by what seems to be a finger of brown foam. The nose comprises roasted malts, blackened pretzels, molasses, maple syrup, oak, vanilla, cocoa, and whiskey. The taste holds notes of heavy roasted malts, molasses, chocolate, sweet peppers, soy sauce, vanilla, and brown sugar. The body is a hefty medium, with a light carbonation and a kinda syrupy feel. Overall, this seemed a bit of a disappointment. A lot of dark, sweet, and spicy tones, but they don't really seem to truly mesh together properly. Honestly, though, because of the circumstances, this guy held up fairly well. I plan on trying to acquire a new bottle, though, so that we can determine how this ought to be. Until then, though, these were my impressions: take them as you wish.

Update (2/26/11):
Thanks to the generosity of florida9, I've been able to give this giant another chance. The taste comes up much cleaner, tastier, with the soy sauce now thankfully gone and the peppers coming in nice and subtly near the end. Everything comes through nicely this time, much more well-blended and neat. I'm glad I was able to try this as it was intended to be consumed, as it is definitely better than the literal wreck that the above bottle was. The scores have thus been appropriately adjusted.

A: Pours a very deep black with a tan colored head, about one finger in height upon pouring. Not a lot of retention with moderate lacing on the glass. Some lace formed when the beer hit the sides, but didn't last very long.

S: Dark and bitter chocolate, roasted malt, a little bit of caramel, and very faint peppers and vanilla. There is a little smoke as well, but plays a backseat to everything else.

T: Really nice dark chocolate flavors mixed with some vanilla and a little bit of roasted malt. The chilies come through stronger than the aroma indicated, much to my liking. A little bit of caramel and smoke as well.

M: Medium to full bodied with moderate carbonation. The alcohol is well hidden and there isn't any heat from the peppers really, they just show up as a nice addition to the flavor profile.

O: A big fan of this beer, very complex. On of the best chocolate/pepper beers I have had. Easy drinking for style/abv and very smooth.

Review #500! I brought this one to stakem's fish fry. One of my personal favorites, this particular bottle was from the original release.

A - Pours jet black with a nice one finger tall tan head leaving small, thin trails of lace down parts of the glass.

S - Smells of chocolate, chill spice, dark roasted malt, coffee grounds, tobacco and a tiny bit of vanilla. This one has muted quite a bit from when it came out but it is still pretty good.

T - Starts off with a ton of dark roast quickly giving way to a mix of dulled chocolaty sweetness, day old coffee grounds, light chili spice and some wet tobacco. Not as muted down as the nose is, still very nice. A touch of booze comes in at the finish, combining with some of the dark roast to linger on the pallet for some time.

M - This is definitely a big beer. It has lost some of its trademark spice over the years in the bottle but it still has a nice thick body and bold flavors with a good amount of carbonation.

O - This one was definitely showing its age. When fresh, this beer is nearly impossible to beat. I will never turn down a glass of this beer. It is truly one of the best stouts out there.

Poured from a 750ml bottle into my Dogfish snifter. It poured pitch black in color with a very thick looking body to it. The head foamed up and nearly filled the top inch and half of the glass. The head was a very nice looking deep brown, almost chocolaty in color. It stuck around too and left some very nice lacing. The head definitely gives this some bonus points on appearance, I loved the color if it.

The chili peppers are the first thing that stand out to me in the aroma. They give it a very flavorful roasted pepper like quality to it without becoming hot or spicy. The sweeter chocolate and mild vanilla seem to smooth it out pretty nicely. It has a good amount of bitter, roasted malt, coffee flavors to it as well.

The taste really shows the roasted pepper like flavor to it, which give it just a bit of spice. It has lots of chocolate coming through as well. The vanilla is there but isn't a strong presence. Towards the finish more of the roasted malt, coffee, bitter flavors come through. Very nice range of flavors overall.

The mouthfeel is on the thicker side with carbonation being on the lower side. Drinkability is pretty good, I liked the flavors a lot actually. It felt pretty well balanced between sweet and roasty flavors and the peppers and vanilla definitely added some nice depth. Very flavorful and good beer overall.

From 3/27 notes. Got to share with some other BA's thanks to a great trade with bobby8405... thanks Bob! Poured from 750ML bottle into a pint glass.

a - Pours a deep, dark black color with one finger of brown head and a little bit of carbonation evident. Great rentention on the head.

s - Smell is a mixture of cocoa, chile, chocolate, and vanilla. The chili was very interesting and gave it an almost fig/dark fruit taste. Very interesting mix, but enjoyable.

t - Tastes of chile, cocoa, and vanilla. Also some roasted malts. As the beer warmed up a bit, I got some cinnamon and some more of the chile. A very interesting mix.

m - Full body and low carbonation. Very thick.

d - I thought this was very interesting. It was probably the best beer using chile that I've ever had, and had a load of interesting smells and tastes that worked well together. Quite complex. All that being said, it's not my favorite stout. Don't get me wrong, this was a very good beer and I would love to try it again, but I felt, as did some of the others who tried this with me, that it did not live up to the hype surrounding it.

Unbelievably well-balanced and teeming with flavor. Simply amazing. The chiles have a big presence in the beer, but don't put out an overabundance of heat or spice. Masterfully done there. Cinnamon, vanilla, and oak meld beautifully with a full-bodied, roasty stout.

Perfect carbonation level. Every sip leaves a thick coating of rich stout on the palate. The feel is just perfect.

Overall, one of the best beers, and certainly among the finest imperial stouts I have ever had. My highest recommendation.

Appearance - As black as they come. Not even a hint of brown in the stream of the pour as it comes out of the bottle. It foams up nicely as I pour it with a dark brown head. The only thing that's missing is lacing, which is minimal.

Smell - Unbelievable aroma. Deep dark chocolate. The friend I split it with said it smells like "really expensive chocolate." Roasty aromas abound with the chocolate and a slight burning in the nose from the alcohol and peppers. Delightful.

Taste - An immediate hop bitterness that fades immediately to a strong flavor of dark chocolate. The pepper flavor burns the taste buds just slightly throughout the entire drink, never allowing the sweetness to overwhelm. In the middle are the dark roasted malt flavors, followed by a finish that wants to be sweet, but can't overcome a hop bitterness and peppery bite.

Mouthfeel - Ok, I like my stouts heavy and chewy, but this is ridiculous. I've split a bottle of Hunahpu two ways once before and it was too much. This time I split it three ways and it seems that I'll make it through the glass. It's the heaviest beer I've ever had. Pretty high in carbonation considering the ABV and weight of the beer. Gives it a good tingle that complements the peppers nicely.

Overall - Outstanding stout. The flavors are perfectly balanced, complex, and like no other stout I've had. The pepper addition is the pièce de résistance that elevates this beyond just a good stout. I will be back next year for the 2012 Hunahpu.

Big thank you to CaptinRedBeard for this one. Shared with some friends and tasted along side the base brew (Marshal Zhukov.)

Poured into a snifter, this brew appears deep black in color with more than a finger of very dark brown mocha froth head. The cap holds very well at a finger's strength and as it slowly recedes leaves patches of lace on the glass. When held to the light, there is no light passing through, this is one dark beer. Small fingers of lace dangle down the side of the glass along with faint spotty lace. Once the cap finally dissolves, a quick swirl revives it.

The smell of this brew is tangy with a combination of alcohol and citrus hops. The citrus component is accented by a fruity citrus to earthy element of the chili inclusion. Deep earthy nose on this has subtle notes of tobacco leaves, leather and chocolate. The chocolate smell is very cocoa batter-like with a small vanilla inclusion providing a sweet scent that gains strength in it's presence as the brew warms.

The taste is tangy with alcohol. Bold bitterness with a flavor of roasty chocolate is right upfront with a roasted quality that merges to almost char-like quality. The tangy alcohol melds with a citrus and earthy flavor from the chili addition. The citrus/earthy flavor provides a pleasant boost of flavor and depth of complexity. The alcohol coupled with the heat of the chili creates a lasting tingle of heat in the back of the mouth and down the throat. As the brew warms, the vanilla comes out with a bit more sweetness that highlights the chocolate malt flavors. There is a very faint taste of cinnamon spice included that I didn't pick up on until after I took a few sips and started to talk. It's interesting how some flavors are hidden except in vapor form. The aftertaste is spicy with earthy flavors coupled with roasty grain. Excellent.

This is a full bodied brew with a modest to light level of carbonation. Excessively enjoyable, I would love to be able to drink this regularly. Well rounded as a stout in every aspect with lots of complexity. Perfectly incorporated abv throughout. I generally am not a huge fan of beers that have hot pepper inclusions. This one however is executed perfectly. One of my favorite beers of all time, love it.

Received in trade from cpetrone84, thanks for the opportunity Chris.
Pours a thick solid black color with a decent sized long lasting dark cocoa head. Smells of chocolate and roast up front with lots of anise and dark sugars supporting. Light cinnamon as well as earthy hops provide a bit of balance. Thick chocolate syrup, dark chocolate, licorice, nutmeg and cinnamon flavors come out up front. Lingering chocolate covered pitted fruits, licorice and roast coats the digestive track long after every sip. Thick body with a creamy syrupy mouthfeel and a light level of carbonation. This is a big thick sweet chewy stout, just the way I like them, bring on the diabetes.

Palate is incredibly easy drinking. Mellow dark bitter chocolate, with faint fruity undertones. Toasty finish and roasting malts almost charcoal. Warmth brings out a big earthy chocolate more so with leafy tobacco hinted on the nose. Mouthfeel comes with a big to moderate slick coating without a syrupy feel. Pepper angle gets lost after numerous sips, but doesn't ruin the enjoyment.

Overall a real fun brew, but some of the bouquet is buried in the mix. It does turn out a fun experience though upon taste. Hope to have this again some day.

A – Black body with the one of the darkest heads I’ve ever seen. The head has super-fine bubbles and holds up well with nice retention and lace. The beer is incredibly viscous with better legs than most red wines.

O – Fantastic balance and flavor. It’s rare that a brewer posts an ingredient bill as complex as this on the bottle and everything comes through. It's even rarer that those flavors come through so clean and incredibly well integrated. Tip of the hat to CCB, job well done.

Thanks to someone (Chris?) for opening this at the Hunahpu's showdown. I've had this beer numerous times, but never gotten around to reviewing it. 2011 vintage reviewed, but 2010 sampled at the same time. Served in a Hill Farmstead glass.

A - Looks like all the barrel-aged Hunahpu's we had, but with more foam. Angry dark red foam that settles to a thick collar, leaving spotty lace as well as a glass-staining brownish film. Pitch black body.

S - This is the first time I've sampled the new 2011 vintage, and I'm shocked how present the cinnamon is, as it's a flavor I never really picked up from the 2010. Plenty of vanilla, chocolate, and roasted malts, as well as some vegetal chile notes - you can tell these aren't the super-spicy varieties. Alcohol is well-hidden, even as the beer warms up, and there's great complexity and richness.

T - The taste is similar, but there's less of the sweet and cacao and vanilla and more of the charry, roasted malts of Zhukov. Chocolate flavors veer towards the dark and bitter side of things, and the finish is slightly tarry. Still, these are only minor quibbles, and on the whole the flavor is delicious. Less chile pepper and spice presence here as well.

M - The massive body, chewy and viscous, has always been one of Hunahpu's main strengths, and the carbonation is low but sufficiently present to support it. Creamy, thick, mouth-coating, and with shockingly little alcohol presence.

D - An instant classic in the US craft beer scene, and a beer that holds up extremely formidably with its barrel-aged brethren. I'd actually prefer to drink this over the Virgin Oak version, and probably the bottled Bourbon edition as well (Four Roses I think?).

Unfortunately the 2010 vintage is not holding up so well - the adjuncts seem to be fading at non-linear rates resulting in unpredictable and strangely unbalanced flavor combinations. I don't recommend holding onto this beer for more than 12 months.

Received this bottle in a trade -- thanks. Poured into a snifter. Beer is noticably thick as I pour, leaves legs on the sides of the glass. Beer is pitch black, black black. You can't see through it at the corners to through the thinnest part of the beer. Its just not happening. Forms a brown head, overall thin of smallish to medium sized bubbles and it leaves some lacing on the glass - although I think the alcohol is hindering the lacing overall.

The aroma is surprisingly spicy. I can get some alcohol, very slight, but I can definitely smell some chilis. This makes me nervous slightly but not too. The more I smell the more subtle characters of sweetness and a slight chocolatey bitterness come through. Smells good.

Beer is full bodied in the mouth. There is not a spicy / chile flavor as I was expecting in the beer after the initial aroma. There is a lot of roast in the back of the palate and nice carbonation / connectivity on the palate. There is some sweetness up front and nice chocolate based / roast based bitterness on the trailing end. No aftertaste to note and drinkability is high. I enjoyed it. It was complicated and some of the complexity is lost by the size but overall a very good stout.

750 ml bottle brought over for a tasting by Mike. Split between three of us and paired with chile chocolate and 70% cocoa chocolate. Poured into three globe glasses.

A: Extremely deep black body with a seriously rich, frothy and bubbly dark mocha colored head. It settled rather quickly into a thin film covering with some minor lacing but nice legs from the alcohol. Not bad but I think the higher ABV contributed to lack of lacing and brought on more legs.

S: Roasted caramel malts, bittersweet chocolate, chile flesh, vanilla beans and a slight smoked flavor. I'm not sure if wood was used in any way during the brewing but apart from the roasted malts there's a distinct smokey element. The chocolate seems to dominate the aroma for me with a touch of chile skin/flesh at the end. Seriously complex and wonderful.

T: Dark chocolate (slightly bitter) comes through first, followed by the roasted malt base. Vanilla shines through big towards mid-palate and the chiles, caramel and smoke come through towards the finish. The chiles don't seem to impart any heat even in the linger; instead give the beer an additional depth of flavor. So many things are going on in this beer and they all work incredibly well together.

M: Not as full-bodied and chewy as I would have liked but there's nothing thin about this. It has a decent level of carbonation giving this a fuller medium body with nothing dry in the finish. It's smooth and flavorful without any alcohol detection - dangerously drinkable.

I have to say, this might be one of the most unique and delicious Imperial Stouts to date. The complexity of adding so many different ingredients to this beer and having them work so well together shows the outstanding craftsmanship from the brewers at Cigar City. Pushing the envelope while retaining such quality is seriously impressive. A wonderful beer that everyone should try to taste once in their life.

2011 Vintage. Huge thanks to hoppypocket for this one. Poured in to Bruery tulip.

A - Poured ink black; one of the darkest pours I've seen. Half a finger of medium to dark brown head formed and receded to a thin layer.

S - A big hit of semi-sweet chocolate up front followed by roast, chili peppers, a touch of sweet vanilla and a hint of cinnamon.

T - Big sweet chocolate flavour up front along with the chillies, which provide great flavour without a big spiciness. The roast enters in the middle with a touch of sweet vanilla. Cinnamon doesn't show up until the aftertaste, and adds another layer to the complexity of this beer. The flavours are very well integrated.

Thin deep deep mocha head on a black beer. "Is this ever going to stop dripping??" Alcohol legs damn near stain the snifter. Good collar, head retention, and lacing for a stout with this magnitude of an ABV. One of the thickest beers I've ever had.

Very present chile aroma, deep chocolate aromas.

All stated secondary flavors well represented...chiles, vanilla, cacao...cinnamon really comes though at the end, unexpectedly. Tastes bounce of each other and from what I gather the order is vanilla&gt;chocolate&gt;chile&gt;cinnamon.

Thick mouthfeel. Lower end of carbonation, fits.

Complex for sure. Glad I split this between four guys because I don't think I could, or would want to, drink this to myself. Started to become muddled acter the palate got a little fatigued. Thanks Elliott.

The first thing I got in the aroma was smoked green pepper, and it stayed. The thing with peppers is that they'll dominate taste and smell (at least the green ones and while cooking). No difference here. While cocoa, cinammon, and coffee exist, they are tainted.

taste is just a mess. The cedar, smoke, & peppers don't mesh well in this one. Cinammon adds something different other than musky stuff, but not enough save the tate. And the cocoa is muddle.

The beer pours a inky black color with a brown, small head. The beer is oily and coats the sides of the glass. The aroma is roasted and burnt malt with dark fruit. The flavor is cinnamon, dark fruit, roasted/burnt malt, semi-sweet chocolate and pepper. The mouthfeel and thick and chewy and the carbonation is pretty low.

A big thanks to Avagadro for this 2011 bottle, thanks Aaron! This one pours a very dark dark brown in color on the verge of being black. It's very viscous and coats the glass. It has a nice creamy chocolate brown head that sticks to sides. The aromas consist of sweet chocolates, cinnamon, spices, with light peppers. It's almost dessert like. The flavors feature a nice array of chocolates, roasted malts, cinnamon, nutmeg, other spice with light ancho peppers. It's very, very good and coats your palate. The body is perfect and it drinks really soft. Overall this is near perfect. I'm glad I finally opened one.

Poured into a chalice a thick black color, some carbonation, very nice almost fizzy/creamy one-finger dark tan head, with some nice big oil slick in the middle of the glass. The nose is very nice malty, with lots of chocolate/toffee notes, some vanilla, some roast notes. The taste is exceptional, malty, chocolate/toffee up the ying/yang, very nice sweetness from the vanilla, with some very nice roast notes, slight cinnamon note comes up. Full Body, this is one very smooth/creamy brew, the ABV is hidden very well. Very Drinkable, Very Well Done CC.